Westside Cowboy is no longer a best-kept secret. After setting Brighton alight at The Great Escape Festival and gearing up to open Glastonbury’s Woodsies stage as Emerging Talent winners, the Manchester quartet have dropped “Alright Alright Alright”. It’s their most unhinged, euphoric release yet. A squalling, unrelenting punk rock anthem that doubles as a mission statement, it’s also the third track teased from their just-announced debut EP This Better Be Something Great, out August 8 via Nice Swan and Heist or Hit.
From the first punch of distortion – paraphrasing Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” no less – “Alright Alright Alright” doesn’t so much start as it kicks the door down. Delivering a foot-stomping blend of jangling guitar screech and rattling rhythms that feel indebted to ‘60s folk-rock yet thoroughly modern in execution. Reuben, Aoife, Jimmy, and Paddy trade vocals and melody lines in a playful tug-of-war, weaving and duelling through competing melodies. Drums crash with apocalyptic glee, and fuzz bleeds out of every seam. It’s raw, joyous chaos, produced with a livewire edge by Lewis Whiting of Mercury Prize winners English Teacher. It’s messy in all the right ways, a backyard singalong where nobody cares about precision, but everyone’s got soul.
Westside Cowboy possesses a weird alchemy that, somehow, fuses into pure gold. Their harmonies are messy, beautiful, and entirely their own. You can almost hear the room where this all started, the band tentative, wondering if anyone would ever hear it which only adds to the charm. The lyrics center on persistence and defiance, riding on a wave of optimistic grit: life’s curveballs don’t stand a chance when you’ve got that collective roar behind you.
You just know that in a live setting, this song is destined for mayhem. “Alright Alright Alright” sounds like a band catching fire mid-take and daring you to keep up. Westside Cowboy aren’t just emerging anymore, they’re exploding and it’s fine to admire from the sidelines.
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